Healthcare-associated infections (HAI's), which are infections contracted during the course of treatment for a medical or surgical condition, are a significant problem worldwide. HAI's are often caused by pathogenic microorganisms colonizing the patient's skin, mucous membranes, or hollow viscera. Surgery, trauma, and indwelling devices cause a breach in the body's natural barriers thereby providing a pathway for such pathogens to colonize and infect normally sterile areas of the body.
Measures to reduce colonization with pathogens have proven effective in reducing HAI's. One measure to reduce pathogens on the skin and mucous membranes is the topical application of antiseptics such as chlorhexidine. A convenient and effective means of applying chlorhexidine to the skin or mucous membranes is with the use of an applicator. For example, among their many uses, applicators may be used to apply chlorhexidine to decolonize the skin or mucous membranes of a patient or a healthcare worker prior to a surgical procedure to help prevent a surgical site infection, or they may be used ion hospitalized patients with indwelling devises such as central venous catheters, urinary catheters, or endotracheal tubes to routinely decolonize the patient's skin or mucous membranes to help prevent self-infection.
It has been a challenge to develop a chlorhexidine article, and a method of sterilizing a chlorhexidine article.